Veronica Gandini | Weekly Comic Book Review

The Fearless Defenders #1 – Review

Posted on February 6, 2013 by Matt Sargeson

By: Cullen Bunn (Writer), Will Sliney (Artist), Veronica Gandini (Colorist), Clayton Cowles (Letterer)

The Review: It’s Ladies Night at the House of Ideas, which I guess is reason enough for a certain amount of celebration; mainstream comics are a bit of a sausage-fest after all. So, when a book featuring two badass babes going all out to raise a ruckus pops up on the shelf, it is perhaps a debt owed by all red-blooded man-nerds to pick it up. All that ogling of Frank Cho’s libidinous artwork had to come at some kinda price, right fellas?

I jest, of course, but there’s a kernel of truth hidden amongst my pseudo-chauvinistic posturing. We often hear the case put forward in the comic book press that women, diverse ethnic groups and those of a non-hetero persuasion are much maligned when it comes to the world of capes and tights. This book tackles all three hot topics at once, and does so naturally and succinctly. Any move towards equality in the super-powered community deserves at least a respectful nod for trying to make right…but at the end of the day, the main thing we care about as readers is comics that tell a great story filled with engaging characters and dynamite visuals. On those terms I’m afraid this issue comes up a little short.

The basic premise is a good one. I love an Odd Couple pairing and Misty Knight and Valkyrie are nothing if not that. Teaming the “Badass private investigator,” with the “Last Shieldmaiden and defender of Asgardia” is a scenario ripe for terse, witty banter – two more opposing worlds it may be hard to find. It’s a set-up that was at the core of one of my favourite comic runs of the last few years, Greg Pak’s Incredible Herc, where street-smart, likeable techno-brat Amadeus Cho proved a perfect foil for the tragi-comic Greek God Hercules. There’s not a whole lot of interaction between Misty and Valk’ here but the combination certainly has a lot of potential.

The team-up itself takes a while to occur. The story begins with Misty in the middle of a mission from Archeologist Dr Annabelle Riggs to retrieve some stolen Asgardian artifacts from a band of mercenaries. The job gets messy when a villain (who I can only assume is Morgan le Fey) interrupts and makes off with most of the loot. Misty makes her way back to Dr Riggs at her dig site with the one artifact she was able to recover, though she could hardly have picked up a worse one – once activated this Asgardian ‘music box’ plays a tune that reanimates the dead. Zombies ensue, Valkyrie turns up to help Misty, and the book sets up its stall from there.
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Filed under: Marvel Comics, Reviews | Tagged: Asgard, Asgardian, Clayton Cowles, Cullen Bunn, Misty Knight, Morgan Le Fey, Norse Mythology, The Fearless Defenders, undead, Valkyrie, Veronica Gandini, Will Sliney | 2 Comments »

Captain Marvel #8 – Review

Posted on December 25, 2012 by Minhquan Nguyen

CAPTAIN MARVEL #8

By: Kelly Sue DeConnick & Christopher Sebela (story), Dexter Soy (art), Veronica Gandini (colors)

The Story: Two cosmic heroes versus a walking pile of rusting wreckage. Overkill, no?

The Review: If you want to know the truth, I don’t much like the obligatory battle sequences in superhero comics. At the end of the day, they make a limited contribution to the actual story and for a reviewer, you can’t really say anything about them except whether they’re exciting or not. They tend to be more of a showcase for artists than for the writing. But of all battle sequences, the ones I most particularly dislike are those involving giant robots.

Blasphemy—I know! In my defense, I do love those scenes a whole lot more in a big, splashy film with tons of CGI and where the sequence can last for as much as five mind-blowing minutes. In a comic, it mostly boils down to the heroes fruitlessly blasting away at the mindless automaton until they figure out some way to either (a) shut down its operating system or (b) blow it up all at once. And that’s pretty much how Carol and Monica spend most of this issue.
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Filed under: Marvel Comics, Reviews | Tagged: Captain Marvel, Captain Marvel #8, Captain Marvel #8 review, Carol Danvers, Christopher Sebela, Dexter Soy, Kelly Sue DeConnick, Marvel, Marvel Comics, Monica Rambeau, Veronica Gandini | 4 Comments »

Avengers Academy #21 – Review

Posted on November 5, 2011 by dfstell

By: Christos Gage (writer), Sean Chen (pencils), Scott Hanna (inks), Jeremy Cox & Veronica Gandini (colors), Joe Caramagna (letters), John Denning & Jake Thomas (assistant editors) & Bill Rosemann (editor)

The Story: After the destruction of the Infinite Mansion during Fear Itself, the Avengers Academy needs a new home, and possibly a new direction.

Five Things:

1. Mixing things up is good. To me, comics are kinda like that old myth about sharks: “If they stop moving forward, they will die.” The worst times in superhero comics are when the stories run in circles. I know there are fans that enjoy having the same story reserved to them year after year, but it’s not for me. So, the idea of moving the Avengers Academy to the old West Coast Avengers facility and bringing in some new faces (both teachers and students) is great. Just keep mixing it up with these comics! Sustain the things that work and trash the stuff that stinks, but don’t be afraid to fail and keep moving forward!

2. WONDERFUL twist ending! That was an awesome twist at the end where we see [SPOILER] the evil future selves of our young Academy heroes. It plays on two big themes of the series. One, that the reason these kids are getting training is that they are the most likely to go evil due to being fiddled with by Norman Osborn. Two, we kinda saw these adult versions of the kids before during the Korvac story (around issue #12) when the kids were able to access their adult power levels to defeat Korvac. But, that wasn’t really seeing their actual future selves, just their future power-sets and we didn’t know that they became villainous. Nor did we know that they had kidnapped Reptil and sent back “future, evil Reptil”. How very sneaky and villainous! Love it! However, that final splash page really should have had an editor’s note referring people to that back issue because if I look at that splash page with “new reader” eyes, I wouldn’t have a clue what was going on since the only visual cues are that Finesse has longer hair and the electric guy looks grown up (Veil, Hazmat & Mettle look the same).

3. Too much talking in the middle. There a lot of hand-wringing in the middle of this issue – too much of the teachers and students talking about each other from across the room. It seems like that could have been wrapped up in a page if the creators weren’t afraid of old-fashioned exposition. Just have the verbal misunderstanding happen at the same time as the physical conflict. I know it seems unrealistic to have these long speeches in the middle of the fisticuffs, but that is far preferable to having to waste several pages to get to the same end point. This comic existed to get us to the money shot (the cool reveal on the final page), not to beat into our heads how much misunderstanding there is among these folks.
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Filed under: Marvel Comics | Tagged: Avengers Academy, Avengers Academy #21, Avengers Academy #21 review, Bill Rosemann, Christos Gage, Dean Stell, Jake Thomas, Jeromy Cox, Joe Caramagna, John Denning, Marvel, review, Scott Hanna, Sean Chen, Veronica Gandini | 2 Comments »

Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt #2 – Review

Posted on June 16, 2011 by dfstell

By: Sean McKeever (writer), Mike Norton (art), Veronica Gandini (colors), Clayton Cowles (letters) & Lauren Sankovitch (editor)

The Story: The young Initiative characters are still being pressed into action during Fear Itself and Thor Girl is asked to “take one for the team”.

What’s Good: Young heroes are hard to introduce partially because it’s hard to find good stuff for them to do. During a “normal” time in the Marvel Universe, there are usually at least several major threats to the Earth/universe and the A-list heroes tackle those threats. It’s a problem I’ve always had with characters like the New Mutants: If the threat is HUGE, it seems like something the X-Men-proper should handle, but if the threat is small, I don’t feel like I need to spend money to watch B-list heroes tackle B-list problems. It’s a Catch 22.

Enter Fear Itself! With a mega-event like FI, it makes all kinds of sense that the kiddie heroes and B-listers would get drafted into action out of necessity. If escaped criminals from the Raft are rampaging in my town I’d want Thor to show up, but I’d rather have Frog-Man than nothing. That’s basically the set up for Youth in Revolt. As in the first issue, the mere presence of these kids drives home what a nasty situation FI is and we get to see some non-traditional heroes doing their best and being heroic. In some ways, they’re almost more heroic because they aren’t as tough. At one point, the kids end up in battle with a semi-major villain. Thor or Red Hulk or Iron Man would just destroy the guy, but these kids are legitimately threatened by this villain and you can really respect their actions all the more because of it. With any luck, one or two of these characters will be compelling enough that they might end up in some other Marvel books after FI. Others (like Frogman) will go back on the shelf until the next event.
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Filed under: Marvel Comics | Tagged: Clayton Cowles, Dean Stell, Fear Itelf, Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt, Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt #2, Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt #2 review, Lauren Sankovitch, Marvel, Mike Norton, review, Sean McKeever, Veronica Gandini, Youth in Revolt | Leave a Comment »

Fear Itself: Youth in Revolt #1 – Review

Posted on May 16, 2011 by dfstell

By: Sean McKeever (writer), Mike Norton (art), Veronica Gandini (c0lors), Clayton Cowles (letters) & Lauren Sankovitch (editor)

The Story: Even when you have THREE teams of Avengers, they can’t handle everything. When FEAR ITSELF strikes on a global scale, the need arises to call in some C-listers to help out!

What’s Good: Even though I “liked but didn’t love” FEAR ITSELF #1 and #2, I’m pretty much resigned to the fact that my OCD nature will force me to read the entire event. One of the big things FEAR ITSELF is pitching is that this is a global catastrophe, but that just didn’t sink in during those first couple issues. Sure, there was action happening under the ocean and whatever rainforest Hulk was hanging out in when the hammer fell from the sky….and of course, TWO hammers fell in NYC. But, everything still felt pretty contained as if folks living in Atlanta were still going about their daily lives, playing Farmville, grocery shopping, etc.

What made this issue kinda neat is that it really drove home the point that FEAR ITSELF is a big deal. Anytime you’ve got Steve Rogers asking a batch of C-listers for help maintaining the order, you know events are dire indeed. Maybe that sounds like a backhanded compliment, but it isn’t meant as such. As comic readers we are desensitized to seeing Thor, Hulk, Cap, etc. facing off against global devastation because it happens almost monthly somewhere in the Marvel Universe. But, what doesn’t happen every month is that the problem is so BIG that civilization needs the help of Prodigy, Gravity, Stunt-Master, Thor Girl, Ultragirl, Red Nine, Firestar, Komodo, Cloud 9 and a bunch of other folks from the Initiative days.
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Filed under: Marvel Comics | Tagged: Clayton Cowles, Dean Stell, Fear Itself, Fear Itself: Youth In Revolt #1, Fear Itself: Youth In Revolt #1 review, Lauren Sankovitch, Marvel, Mike Norton, review, Sean McKeever, Veronica Gandini, Youth in Revolt | Leave a Comment »

X-Men Vs. Agents of Atlas #2 – Review

Posted on November 7, 2009 by pozzyfreak

By Jeff Parker (Writer), Carlo Pagulayan, Gabriel Hardman, Chris Samnee, & Carlos Rodriguez (Pencils), Jason Paz, Hardman, Samnee, &Terry Pallot (Inks), and Wilfred Quintana & Veronica Gandini

Some Thoughts Before The Review: The first X-Men Vs. Agents of Atlas book was solid and entertaining. That said, it wasn’t anything special and a bit too much of an “X” title for my taste. Perhaps the second half of the mini-series will swing things more in the favor of the Agents of Atlas.

The Story: The X-Men and the Agents of Atlas fight for a while until they realize that there is a connection between them. Meanwhile, Venus finds herself at the mercy of a follower of Aphrodite.

What’s Good: The fight that opens X-Men Vs. Agents of Atlas #2 is easily the highlight of the entire book. It’s chaotic as hell and a whole lot of fun to see play out…especially when Mr. Lao the Agent’s dragon gets involved. The art team does an excellent job of packing a ton of characters on each page during the scene and Jeff Parker’s battle-banter shines. Also, importantly, both teams come out of the encounter looking pretty damned good. The Agents prove that they’ve got what it takes to hang with the big dogs, while the X-Men once again show why they are one of the best comic teams of all time.

While Jeff Parker’s script is entertaining and serviceable, the only real surprise about it is how he manages to tie the bonus story from last month into the main X-Men Vs. Agents of Atlas plot. It’s a nice twist to an otherwise predictable story. Thankfully, the book as a whole is elevated by the impressive artwork. The styles used fit the various segments and really make each piece of the story feel visually distinct.

What’s Not So Good: Outside of the interesting plot twist involving the bonus segment from X-Men Vs. Agents of Atlas #1, there’s little in X-Men Vs. Agents of Atlas #2 that you haven’t seen before. Jeff Parker uses standard “good guys vs. good guys” plot beats from start to finish. The teams fight, someone gets both sides to listen, and soon they realize they shouldn’t be fighting. It’s predictable and, to be honest, a bit boring. The great action and artwork covers up the dull plot to a certain extent, but it can’t mask it completely.

Conclusion: X-Men Vs. Agents of Atlas #2 is a visually impressive, entertaining conclusion to a fun mini-series. It doesn’t really do anything new, but chances are you probably won’t mind.

Grade: C+

-Kyle Posluszny

Filed under: Marvel Comics, Reviews | Tagged: Agents of Atlas, Carlo Pagulayan, Carlos Rodriguez, Chris Samnee, Comic Book Reviews, Gabriel Hardman, Jason Paz, Jeff Parker, Kyle Posluszny, Marvel Comics, Terry Pallot, Veronica Gandini, WCBR, Weekly Comic Book Review, weeklycomicbookreview.com, Wilfred Quintana, X-Men, X-Men, X-Men Vs. Agents of Atlas, X-Men Vs. Agents of Atlas #2, X-Men Vs. Agents of Atlas #2 Review | Leave a Comment »

X-Men Vs. Agents of Atlas #1 – Review

Posted on October 10, 2009 by pozzyfreak

By Jeff Parker (Writer – Both Stories)

“The X-Heist” Art Team – Carlo Pagulayan (Pencils), Jason Paz (Inks) and Wil Quintana (Colors)

“Atomic Age Heroes” Art Team – Chris Samnee (Art) and Veronica Gandini (Colors)

Some Thoughts Before The Review: The X-Men/Agents of Atlas crossover seems a bit unnecessary. That said, I can’t help but support it if it helps to grab more readers for the next volume of the Agents of Atlas ongoing.

The Story: In “The X-Heist” the Agents of Atlas attempt to steal Cerebro from Utopia in order to use it in their search for the missing Venus. “Atomic Age Heroes” is decidedly old school in tone and style as the X-Men and the Agents of Atlas fight it out because of mutant wildlife.

What’s Good And What’s Not So Good: X-Men Vs. Agents of Atlas #1 (lead by the “X-Heist” story) is, somewhat surprisingly, a fine start to what looks to be an entertaining bridge between the Atlas ongoing and the eventual monthly Incredible Hercules bonus feature. The X-Men and the Agents have a confrontation for a logical reason and that goes a long way towards making the limited series feel more meaningful than your typical cash/reader grab-fueled crossover right from the start. The “Atomic Age Heroes” story, meanwhile, is a fun slice of retro comic goodness that proves to be a nice little addition to the book.

While the storytelling and character work by Jeff Parker is as strong as expected (it’s what has made Atlas a favorite of mine) for both stories, Parker’s use of Matt Fraction’s now signature character information boxes in “The X-Heist” is, in a word, annoying. I get that the limited series is designed to get Uncanny readers interested in the Agents, but by using Fraction’s style it seems as though Parker (it might be Marvel’s fault) is setting up a bait and switch move. Agents of Atlas has never read like an “X” book, so maybe it would have been a better move to let the limited series read more like an Atlas book. At the very least it would have given new readers a better taste of what the Atlas series is really like. At least “Atomic Age Heroes” makes up for it somewhat by reading like long like comic from Marvel’s past.

Carlo Pagulayan’s work for “The X-Heist” is very impressive and does both teams justice. The X-Men look iconic, the Agents look appropriately pulpy, and the action makes good use of all the characters battling it out. Everything looks slick, modern, and polished during most of the “X-Heist,” though I’m not quite sure that’s exactly the best style for the comic. It makes the Agents look really out of place and, I hate to say it, but a bit silly. Two scenes employ a more familiar Atlas style however, and it makes me wonder why the look couldn’t have been used for the entire book.

Chris Samnee’s work for “Atomic Age Heroes” is a perfect fit for the way the short bonus tale plays out. It’s retro and old school without ever giving off the sense that someone was trying to hard. In short, Samnee’s art hits pretty much all the right notes and helps “Atomic Age Heroes” to be a lot of fun.

Conclusion: More Atlas is always a good thing, but I can’t help but be disappointed by the fact that someone felt that the Agents needed to conform to the X-Men style.

Grade: B

-Kyle Posluszny

Filed under: Marvel Comics, Reviews | Tagged: Agent of Atlas, Atomic Age Heroes, Beast, Carlo Pagulayan, Cerebro, Chris Samnee, Comic Book Reviews, Cyclops, Dr. Nemesis, Emma Frost, Jason Paz, Jeff Parker, Ken Hale, Kyle Posluszny, M-11, Machine Man, Matt Fraction, Namora, Pixie, Storm, The Gorilla Man, The X-Heist, Utopia, Venus, Veronica Gandini, WCBR, Weekly Comic Book Review, weeklycomicbookreview.com, Wil Quintanam, Wolverine, X-Men, X-Men, X-Men Vs. Agents of Atlas #1, X-Men Vs. Agents of Atlas 1 Review | Leave a Comment »

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